A True Hero
by Koure
Summary: Denzel finally learns who Zack is, and just what a Hero is. Sad, Crisis Core Spoilors. Not DenzelxCloud


This is the result of the craving to see more of Denzel, and some of Cloud's angst.

I do not own Final Fantasy 7, to my disliking.

* * *

Denzel sat at the stool behind the bar, watching Tifa fill cups and serve them to the 'customers'. He wondered where Cloud was, the hero had been gone for about an hour and he wasn't on a delivery, so the boy was jittery. He knew Cloud wouldn't leave them alone again, but it was a little disconcerting not to see him.

He could tell Tifa was tense as well, by the shaking in her hands that made the alcohol swish around gently, but she seemed to be upset for a different reason. One he didn't know. "Denzel? Do you want to draw with me?", a little voice sounded beside him. He turned, knowing Marlene's voice without having to look at her, "What would we draw?", he asked. Marlene pondered for a second, "Puppies"

"Puppies?", he asked. Usually she wanted to draw people. Or Chocobos. "Yes", she said in conviction. "Okay", he hopped off the stool and followed her upstairs to their room, only barely noticing that Tifa was making the customers leave early.

Denzel prided himself on being a man of few words, just like Cloud. Though maybe _man_ wasn't the right term _just_ yet.

They sat down at a small wooden table Cloud had made for them, it was thick, so it could withstand the two children, and light colored to match the room. Denzel was working on a black puppy, with spiky fur and bright blue eyes, he thought that it looked cool. A little later they heard the front door open and close, Tifa's voice echoed up, "Cloud! Where were you? Are you okay?" Cloud mumbled a reply, to soft for the kid's to hear.

They ran down, eager to show him their drawings and ask him where he'd been. Denzel stopped when he saw the Hero, Cloud didn't look well, he was pale and his eyes were closed. Unfortunately, what was obvious to him, was completely hidden from Marlene and she ran forward tugging on the Blond man's arm excitedly, "Look Cloud! Look what I drew! Is it nice? Denzel drew one too!"

Tifa hurried to remove her from her position at the door, "Sweetheart, Cloud isn't feeling good right now. Let's go cook dinner alright?" Marlene looked put out for a second before nodding, she layed the picture down on the counter beside Cloud's stool and walked to the kitchen with Tifa.

Denzel hesitated before going up to Cloud, hoping he wouldn't get in trouble. "Cloud?", he asked quietly. At first Cloud didn't respond, but gradually his eyes opened so that they rested half lidded. "Denzel, how was today?", he asked. Denzel shyly hopped onto the stool beside Cloud and answered. "Okay, but I was worried about you...", he said meekly and looked at he patterns on the wood. Intersecting circles, and ribbons of dark wood lining throughout the brown surface.

"I'm sorry, I had something I needed to do", he apologized. "It's okay, where were you anyway?", Denzel asked. Cloud's eyes opened fully, the glowing blue green peering at him intently before he answered, "Visiting a grave...", he whispered and looked away.

"A-Aerith's?", Denzel asked in shock. Once again glowing eyes studied him, full of pain and guilt often hidden away. "No, Zack's", he said. Denzel was confused, who was Zack? "Who... Who is that?", he asked.

Cloud seemed to debate with himself for a few seconds before answering the brunette. "Zack was... Is... A very close friend of mine", The Blond Hero answered. "Oh... I've never heard of him before", Denzel said.

Cloud nodded, his eyes sliding shut once again. The Hero was slumped in his seat, looking very tired and ill, and Denzel could only wonder how bad Cloud must be feeling for him to lose his unbendable will to keep his weaknesses to himself.

Zack must have meant a lot to Cloud.

"Um... Will you... Tell me about him?", Denzel hesitantly asked. Cloud's glowing eyes opened and met his own, "Zack's story does not end happily Denzel, do you really want to hear it?"

Denzel squirmed a bit under the gaze of his guardian, but he wanted to hear about Zack, about the person who the worlds hero cared for so much. So, he nodded.

Cloud studied him for a bit, putting together what he should say now and what he would tell Denzel when he was older.

"You know that I was in Shinra", he paused to wait for confirmation. He'd never really told the kids about himself, but he figured Tifa had when they were restless or just wanted to know about him.

Once Denzel nodded he continued, "Zack was to, he was a First Class at the time we met each other, and I was a cadet. He was tall, with spiky black hair and blue eyes, I first spoke with him on a mission to Modeoheim"

Denzel thought about his drawing, and felt a bit weirded out about how he'd drawn a spiky black furred puppy with blue eyes. He listened intently as Cloud recounted how the two of them met in a quiet voice, he talked about how they were sent on a mission with Sephiroth, to Denzel's shock. Cloud then had to explain that Sephiroth had been a good man, and when Denzel asked why he hadn't been just weeks before, Cloud paused.

"On that mission, Sephiroth was lied to. The lie was so painful that a... 'Women'... took control over him. She used him to do what she wanted", Cloud had to stifle the boy's panic that another person, stronger than Sephiroth, was their enemy, before Cloud explained that she was gone now and couldn't harm them.

"Oh, so... What happened after Sephiroth was taken over?", Denzel asked while calming his breathing down. He felt slightly ashamed of his panic attack and was staring at the wood of the counter, when Tifa's head appeared through the kitchen doorway. She was about to announce that dinner was ready when she noticed the looks on the twos faces, Cloud's mildly closed off and Denzels embarrassed.

"I'll bring you some plates", she offered, accepting Cloud's grateful glance with a wink. Confused, Cloud blinked back at her slowly to express said confusion. "I knew the boy talk would be coming soon", she said, and promptly disappeared again.

What little color that was left in Cloud's face drained as Denzel looked at him inquiringly, "Later", he murmured. _'Much later'._

Getting back to the story after Tifa brought there plates, which they didn't touch because it didn't really look edible, Cloud answered his earlier question. "He destroyed Nibelheim, and went to free the women from the Mako Reactor she was kept at. He and Zack fought. When I arrived Zack was injured and losing consciousness, and he told me to defeat Sephiroth", he paused again, a far off look entering his eyes.

"I did it, unbelievably. The General of ShinRa army was killed by a cadet", his tone was slightly bitter as he said this, and Denzel was beginning to think this story might not be as cool as he thought it may be, though he had been for warned.

"I was injured, and fell unconscious, the next thing I knew, Zack and I were prisoners of Shinra's head scientist, Hojo. We spent five years there before Zack broke us out...", Cloud trailed of when the horrified recognition entered Denzel's expression. "The man who took Aerith", the man no one spoke of, who every adult in Avalanche hated.

Denzel felt a little fearful when he saw lingering traces of hate in Cloud's eyes, hate he did not even possess for the Shinra company, and the boy could tell that horrible things had happened in Cloud's past.

Cloud nodded, closing his eyes as he felt them watering slightly, the tale would end soon. As always, it was painful and made him feel every ounce of regret and guilt his mind could muster.

"Yes, Zack got us both out, he had to escape Shinra's soldiers and cadets though, and because of the Mako, I was unconscious. I couldn't help him", Denzel watched, wide eyed, as Cloud, the Hero, the strongest man alive, was brought to tears. They trickled in slow steady streams down his cheeks, seeming to go un-noticed. He continued though, in a soft whisper that he always used, that was only just wavering.

"On a cliff, outside of Midgar where we would be safer, we were attacked by several units of Soldier. Zack fought them, to protect me, and lost his life", the Blond man seemed unable to speak anymore, and simply lied his head down on his arms.

Denzel was far to shocked to do anything, he'd been aware that Zack had died, obviously, and that the tale did not end happily, as Cloud had told him before, but he hadn't expected the grief his Hero was showing. He had seen Cloud grieving, but never to the extent of weeping, as silently as it may be. The sight made him sorry he'd asked at all.

He hesitantly touched Cloud's leather clad hand, hoping that he hadn't angered the Hero with his prying. Cloud responded, straightening up before standing and starting towards his bedroom, ruffling Denzel's hair fondly as he passed and giving the boy a reassuring smile.

Denzel watched Cloud go worriedly, before running to the kitchen where Tifa and Marlene were washing dishes. "Tifa?", he asked, tugging lightly on her skirt. "Yes Denzel?", She dried her hands off, and crouched down so she could talk with him.

"Cloud was crying because I asked him about Zack", he confessed anxiously. He wouldn't have asked if he'd known it would make Cloud cry, he hadn't thought Cloud ever cried, to his foolishness.

Tifa frowned and patted his head, "I'll go check on him". He watched as she climbed the stairs and headed down the hall to Cloud's room. She knocked softly before letting herself in.

Denzel sat impatiently on a chair, Tifa was up in Cloud's room for a long time, and he wondered where Marlene was. At last, the Martial Artist came back into the kitchen, looking fairly sad.

"Cloud will be fine Denzel, why don't you go play with Marlene?", Tifa turned on a radio, listening to some music and grabbing a book to read as she waited for night to come and the bar to open again.

"Um... Okay, but... Where is she?", he asked, feeling as if this was something he should know.

Tifa raised an eyebrow at him and laughed a little at how easily he was embarrassed. "She's in the garage looking at all of Cloud's things", she whispered with a 'I won't tell if you don't' look on her face.

Denzel ran to the garage eagerly, excited at being allowed, (if secretly), to mess with all of Cloud's trinkets.

Tifa smiled and looked up the stairs as Cloud descended, giving her a pointed look that clearly said, 'You are responsible if they get hurt'. But, contrary to his attiditude, he slid off into the shadows to ensure the children wouldn't endure such a thing, while also allowing them free reign until Tifa called them in.

* * *

Denzel came up to Cloud a week later with a hesitant request. "Hey Cloud, can we go see Zack's grave?", it was a brave question he thought, especially knowing that it was a sensitive topic with the Hero.

Cloud stilled, setting a Mastered Fire Materia on a shelf before looking down at Denzel. "I'm sure we could do that", he said softly. He motioned for the boy to follow him, and walked upstairs to where Tifa was relaxing on her bed.

"Tifa, Denzel and I are going out for awhile, we'll be back in an hour", he told her and disappeared. Tifa just smiled and laughed to herself.

"Ready to go Denzel?", Cloud asked, grabbing a helmet from another shelf once they returned to the garage. Denzel nodded and accepted the helmet carefully. Once Cloud had him seated on Fenrir, he got on behind him, to ensure that he'd be safe on the ride there.

Once they got on their way, Denzel received a lot of envious glances, not only did he have a close relationship with the worlds hero, he also got to ride on a really awesome motorcycle.

As they entered the waste lands, Denzel was amazed at how much open space there was, and how bright the sand was. Everything here was different from in edge.

Cloud smiled as he watched Denzel look around in awe, the boy had never been out of Midgar or Edge and this must be very exciting for him. Hopefully this desert would bring him better memories than it had with Cloud.

Soon, they made it to the top of the cliff, where the Buster Sword was. Cloud had polished it that day Denzel asked about Zack, and he'd also made a headstone.

Denzel walked up to Zack's grave, looking back at Cloud who stood a few feet back, head raised slightly to the sky in thought and staring up at the wide expanse of blue.

Denzel touched the stone softly and read the words carved into it.

_Zachary Fair _

_Humor and Joy never left you, even through the hardest of times. You deserve every thought of being a Hero._

Denzel wished he could of met this man, and he felt sad that someone like Zack had died. He couldn't really feel what Cloud felt when Zack was in mind, but he thought he could understand.

Denzel looked at Cloud sadly as the man ruffled his hair and felt close to crying. "A Hero is often someone who has had to give up something precious to them", Cloud murmured, "Zack lost his life becoming a Hero, but in doing that he helped make me into what I am today, and without him I wouldn't have been able to defeat Sephiroth. He is the real Hero"

Denzel followed Cloud as they headed back to Fenrir, thinking about what he'd learned in the past week. Cloud didn't think of himself as a Hero, but, from what he'd said, hadn't he given up things precious to him? That would make him a Hero. And even if the Blond didn't think of himself that way, Denzel certainly did.

He barely heard Cloud say it, but as they got on the Bike, the man said "I'll visit again soon Zack"

Maybe next time, he'd go with his Hero.


End file.
